


maybe when your eyes get wide

by sinfuldesire_archivist



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-07-30
Updated: 2008-07-30
Packaged: 2018-09-06 10:09:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8746078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinfuldesire_archivist/pseuds/sinfuldesire_archivist
Summary: John's tired of Dean disobeying him, so when Dean finally crosses the line, he winds up in California with family he never knew he had.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the Sinful Desire archivists: this story was originally archived at [Sinful-Desire.org](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Sinful_Desire). To preserve the archive, we began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in November 2016. We e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact us using the e-mail address on [Sinful Desire collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/sinfuldesire/profile).

“God, kill me now,” Dean groaned. He sat up straighter in his seat and took in the surroundings of what would be his new home-unless he talked Dad out of it now.

 

“It won’t be that bad, Dean,” John said for the hundredth time since they’d set out for Temple City, California, gentle determination in his voice, as he pulled into the circular drive of a blue and white two-story house that Dean had never laid eyes on before, and would be thankful to be able to say so the rest of his life.

 

“Not so bad?” Dean scoffed. “Dad, did you see where you just pulled in? A driveway. A circular driveway.” Not a parking lot or a temporary parking space in some apartment, but a _circular driveway in front of a two story home_.

 

He shook his head and dropped his gaze, refusing to look past the dashboard as they made the long trek up to the house. He didn’t want to see the perfectly manicured lawn, or the basketball hoop sitting to the right of the driveway that had already snuck past his defenses, purely by instinct. Dean didn’t want anything to do with this pervading sense of normality, and everything he’d never known in his life that this place was offering.

 

“Dean,” his father warned. “They’re your mother’s family, and they’re doing us a favor. Your Aunt Dawn is excited to have you stay.”

 

“Some favor,” Dean muttered.

 

He unconsciously crossed his arms over his chest, and did his best not to glare at the people he would be staying with for the next God knew how long. The only favor these people could do for him was to stay far, far away. If only Dean could make them all see that. This was an absolute nightmare. He skipped one too many classes and what happened? He got shipped off to California to stay with family he’d never even met. Family that hadn’t wanted to take him in as a baby when his father had asked-something Dad hadn’t exactly kept a secret over the years. Maybe ignoring Dad’s threats for retribution had been a mistake.

 

Why in the hell did they want to take him in now for? He was trouble, according to their cover story-a lot more trouble than he would have been as a baby. None of this added up to Dean, not one damn bit of it. Not that it would have mattered if things did add up, Dean would still be as miserable and angry as he was now, staring at the people that were doing him such a tremendous favor in the eyes of his father and knowing that somewhere back in Arizona there was a blue-eyed blonde he’d much rather spend his time getting to know.

 

None of that would matter to anyone but him though, and as he followed Dad’s example and climbed from the truck, Dean finally resigned himself to at least knowing who these people were, or at the very least what they looked like. His Aunt Dawn had his mother’s eyes, Dean could tell from where he was, and the faintest hint of her smile. He swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat and glanced in his uncle’s direction, his fingers closing convulsively around the strap of his duffel. His father hadn’t mentioned how much like his mother Aunt Dawn looked, and Dean wondered if maybe that was on purpose as well. He knew they were sisters, but if he didn’t know better he would think they were twins, the resemblance too scary (and painful) to acknowledge out loud.

 

Uncle Jeffery was safe to look at. He was married in and if for some freaky reason he did bear a resemblance to his mother, then there was no way in hell Dean was staying here. Nothing his father could say would ever change his mind on that. It’d finally be time for him to check himself into some sort of institution.

 

The man was plain to look at compared to his Aunt Dawn, with close cropped brown hair and brown eyes. It may have been the bias he was slowly feeling towards his aunt that made that observation for him, but for a woman as beautiful as her, it was impossible to imagine her with someone less than amazing.

 

Between the two adults, neither of whom he cared to know, stood a little girl. He put her at five, maybe six, with wide dark eyes and a shy, mischievous grin that was now directed at Dean. His lips twitched and he quickly looked away. Smiling now would only show Dad that he could be won over, and there was no way he was letting one adorable little girl fuck up his entire world.

 

His aunt was too dangerously close to that point as it was.

 

The little girl had ducked behind her mother’s legs the second they had started to get closer, peeking out now and then, and grinning wider each time. Dean had the sudden urge to stick his tongue out at her, or make some kind of ridiculous face that would have her giggling and send her ducking back behind her mother, while his father muttered ‘christo’ under his breath just to be safe.

 

Instead, Dean shifted his attention to the two teenage boys standing a few feet away at the basketball hoop. He frowned and slung his duffel over his shoulder a little more securely.

 

“I thought you said they only had one son and a daughter?” Brooke and Sam, if he remembered correctly. Dean wasn’t going to promise his father anything if there were two teenage boys in that house, because Dean could only take so much stupidity before he lost it.

 

“They do. Now, remember what I told you,” John said quietly. “They don’t know what’s going on, or what happened to your mother. You-“

 

“I was kicked out of my last school for fighting,” Dean rattled off. “This is my last chance before you ship me off to military school. I got it, Dad.” It wasn’t like it was that hard to remember. It was so cliché, Dean couldn’t believe they’d actually bought it to begin with. Wouldn’t they love to know that the military school Dean was going to be shipped off to was actually their house, and the reason? Absences. “Who’s the other kid?” Dean asked.

 

If only one belonged to this family, it wasn’t hard to see which boy it was. The shorter one had the same dirty blonde hair as the little girl, but his eyes were a bright blue, and a little too arrogant for Dean’s taste. The taller one though, despite the fact that his hair was a much darker brown, had the same wide, dark eyes as Brooke. If anyone was her brother, it was him.

 

The one he guessed was Sam smiled widely and gave Dean a brief wave, erasing any doubts that this wouldn’t be complete torture. Avoiding everyone at all costs while doing what his father asked would be damn near impossible if he was as friendly and interested in Dean as the girl was.

 

John didn’t answer, instead strolling ahead of Dean and to the left to talk with his aunt and uncle. Dean averted his gaze quickly from Sam’s; only returning it to the boys once he was sure Sam had turned away. Dean watched as Sam threw his head back, laughing loudly. His reluctantly-acknowledged cousin shook his head; grin stretched across his face, and shoved the other boy lightly. “You’re full of shit,” he heard Sam admonish him, a little louder than was probably intended with his parents so close.

 

The other boy rolled his eyes and leaned in, his voice too low for Dean to make out his words, but Sam’s cheeks flushed a bright red. His mouth dropped open a little, and then snapped shut almost audibly.

 

Sam’s eyes slanted back to Dean, the color in his cheeks rising when he caught Dean’s gaze. He quickly turned back to his friend, scowling slightly. “Dude, stop,” Sam growled.

 

Dean rolled his eyes and returned his attention to the small group of adults to his left. So that’s what the kid’s deal was, he was gay. Thought Dean would be so stuck up as to hold it against him, either that or he was embarrassed to think that whatever dirty secrets his boyfriend was laying on him now, might be overheard by his latest addition at home. As if Dean really cared what-or who-Sam did, in his spare time.

 

He felt a hand come down on his shoulder and lifted his gaze. “Dad?”

 

“It’s only for a little while,” John said apologetically. “They’re family, Dean. They’ll take care of you.”

 

Dean scowled and let out a quiet snort, so as not to draw more anymore attention to themselves, though he knew full well every set of eyes was locked on him. That would only piss Dad off more, and there’d be no hope of Dean talking his way out of this. “They don’t have a clue what’s out there, Dad. What the hell can they protect me from?”

 

John shook his head, “Dean.”

 

“No, really, Dad,” Dean went on, his voice a little softer. He didn’t usually argue with his dad, or question his decisions, but right now Dean was very close to having a breakdown. Who wouldn’t when faced with being left with a bunch of strangers, conveniently labeled family, because his counselors were sick of too many absences? Who really cared? The second he was done with high school he’d be hunting full time anyway. Why couldn’t Dad just let him drop out now?

 

“You’re right, son. They don’t know what’s out there. But you do, and you can keep them safe in return for their taking you in.”

 

Dean rolled his eyes. He wouldn’t owe them anything if Dad just took him back out on the road. “I wouldn’t even have to if…“

 

“But you do,” John cut him off sharply. “You’re staying here, just until I’m done with this lead. Then I’ll be back for you. You can’t have this kind of absence on your record right now.”

 

“I’m eighteen, Dad. Does it really even matter anymore?” He didn’t bother to point out that if he wanted to drop out or leave it was completely his choice, because if anything, Dean knew better than to push that button. Dean was the only thing John had left and Dean wasn’t about to take that away from him, too.

 

“It’s what your mother would want, Dean. You to graduate, to get to know her family,” John shook his head, dropping his eyes uncharacteristically. “Nothing will ever be how she wanted it, not completely, but we can give her this. Besides,” he squeezed Dean’s shoulder. “This is something I need to take care of on my own, and I don’t trust you to get to school.”

 

He shook his head, his throat dry as he realized he’d lost a part of his father’s trust so stupidly and so easily. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for Dean to feel it in his gut and to know that in his heart while his father trusted him to guard his back, it wasn’t total and complete as it had always been.

 

Their brief moment of privacy was abruptly and loudly ended by his aunt’s uncontained glee as she rushed forward; interrupting the only honest moment Dean had had with his father in over ten years. Unable to keep to herself any longer.

 

“Oh my God,” Aunt Dawn gushed, framing his face with her hands. “You have your mother’s eyes,” she sniffed, tears filling her own. Her eagerness dimmed only slightly by this realization. “Oh, God, and those freckles.”

 

Fucking wonderful. Like he needed a constant reminder of what his mother looked like, it was bad enough he could see it when he looked in a mirror. He didn’t need the play by play.

 

His aunt lifted her hand to her face and wiped away the few tears that had managed to escape “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “It’s just been so long since I’ve seen Mary, and your eyes….oh, enough of that.” She sniffed again and turned, waving the boys over, not giving him the chance to say much of anything.

 

“This is Sam, and his friend Colton,” she introduced as the boys jogged over, still wiping tears from her eyes. “Sam, this is your cousin Dean.”

 

The taller one, with the wide smile and same dark eyes of Brooke’s, grinned and waved, clapping a hand to the blonde’s shoulder, assuring Dean hadn’t been wrong in his assumptions, before turning worried eyes on his mother.

 

“You okay?” he asked quietly, his hand slipping from Colton’s shoulder.

 

“Fine, Sam,” she reassured her eldest. “He just looks so much like Mary, it was…a shock.”

 

Sam smiled warmly and nodded. “Uncle John told you that over the phone,” he reminded her.

 

Aunt Dawn swatted Sam playfully, and turned back to Dean. “I didn’t realize just how much he looked like her though.” She sighed and shook her head. “This is my oldest, Sam. He’s sixteen, Colton’s the same. They’ll be going to school with you now.”

 

“Wonderful,” Dean said, nodding politely, distaste ripe on his tongue. He could feel his dad’s gaze burning into the back of his head, but he ignored it. He was being polite, what more did Dad expect of him?

 

The young girl, who had been hiding before, now clambered for her brother’s attention. She tugged at his shirt, holding open her arms to be lifted up, and _now_ , if the determined look on her face meant anything. Sam laughed and bent down, scooping her up and setting her against his hip.

 

“And this ray of sunshine,” he introduced affectionately. “Is Brookie.”

 

“Our youngest,” Aunt Dawn added. “She’s five next month.”

 

Dean nodded again, unsure of what to say to their obvious pride in ‘Brookie’. This wasn’t the norm for Dean; he didn’t get introduced to adorable little girls every day. He wasn’t even sure what kind of reaction he was supposed to have in the face of her absolute cuteness, but somehow he knew he wouldn’t like it.

 

The most sickening fact of the whole thing though, if Dean was truly honest with himself, was that Sam was a whole other kind of adorable. The kind of adorable that was really something other than adorable, something like _hot_ \- something that normally had Dean smirking and pulling out the slow, thick drawl. If Sam wasn’t his cousin, they’d already be behind the house, or in Sam’s bed if either could wait that long, by now.

 

As it was, they were cousins. And Dean couldn’t stand him.

 

Sensing Dean was uncomfortable-something Dean didn’t even want to dwell on-Sam set Brooke down on her feet and held a hand out for Dean’s bag. “I’ll show you to your room,” he volunteered.

 

Dean glanced over his shoulder at his father, pleading silently one last time for him to reconsider. Dad gave a slight shake of his head, and Dean knew it was over. His shoulders slumped slightly in defeat, earning a disapproving look from his father that had him fighting the urge to roll his eyes and bite down sharply on his tongue, defiance bubbling up like never before.

 

He turned back to his cousin and his ‘friend’, eyeing the blonde warily. Sam followed his gaze, brows furrowing.

 

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Colt,” he said, in an attempt to ease the sudden tension between the three of them, as if it hadn’t been thick enough already. “Come on, Dean. I’ll show you to your room.”

 

Sam started across the lawn, confident that Dean was following behind him and that Colton was leaving, obviously not used to people turning away his too friendly attitude. Dean waited until the blonde made for the sidewalk before actually following Sam towards the house. Accepting that too friendly attitude only because he had no choice, and didn’t bother to glance back again at his father, knowing if he did, the hold he had on his tongue would slip away as quickly as his patience had.

 

Sam jogged up the front steps, pulling open the screen door and holding it open for Dean as he crossed the threshold. Dean shook his head, the furnished living room beginning to turn his stomach. What else had he expected in their two story home, with their sixteen year old son and ‘little ray of sunshine’? This wasn’t some rundown motel, this wasn’t home to Dean.

 

Dean swallowed the grumble of protest and followed Sam silently through the living room and down the hall to a back stairwell. The kitchen stood off to the left of the stairs, a back door leading to a porch and fenced in backyard, completing the nauseating sense of hominess and normality that had suddenly engulfed him.

 

Dean’s room was upstairs and two doors down from Sam’s as his cousin so helpfully and needlessly pointed out. Brooke’s and a spare bathroom standing between their rooms, a barrier he was only slightly grateful for.

 

Sam twisted the knob to Dean’s room, letting the door swing in and giving Dean his first real glimpse at hell. A twin mattress was pressed against the far wall, just beneath a window, spilling sunlight over the blue and white comforter blanketing the bed. Other than that, the room was sparse, a dresser and desk the only other pieces of furniture in the room, leaving Dean with the brief sense of horror that this was because they expected Dean to want to add to it himself.

 

He stepped in, feeling Sam follow behind him and stiffened. This was definitely hell.

 

“What? No Britney Spears poster?” Dean remarked snidely, all too aware of the disgusting tone of voice he was unfairly directing at a sixteen year old whose whole life was being turned upside down by Dean’s mere presence. “Make a cousin feel more welcome.”

 

Sam snorted and dropped the duffel down on the floor, next to the bed, ignoring that. The room looked like it belonged to a thirteen year old and Dean would bet anything that Sam’s bedroom, two doors down, was just like it. Maybe covered in posters and awards, maybe a scantily clad woman tacked up behind the door so that mom wouldn’t see it every time she stepped into his room at night to tuck him in, but enough so that dad wouldn’t be too disappointed in him for liking guys, or just enough to keep his secret safe, whichever way he was playing things.

 

“Right,” Sam said, mouth tightening as Dean turned to face him. The tone of Dean’s voice was hostile enough to let Sam know the joke was more than a joke, and obviously his cousin hadn’t missed that. “School’s tomorrow morning, might want to unpack now.”

 

Dean raised a brow, but didn’t answer. He leaned back against the wall and watched Sam study him in confusion. The younger boy shook his head and gave a soft snort, before turning and leaving the room without another word, something Dean had not expected.

 

Dean listened as Sam made his way down the hall and instead of the slam of his bedroom door Dean heard the soft thud of footsteps as Sam took the stairs two at a time. The sound of the back door slamming echoed up the stairs.

 

He rolled his eyes and hefted his duffel on to the bed, taking Sam’s advice. There wasn’t much to unpack, there never was, but his aunt would get worried if he didn’t at least unpack what he had, and he didn’t want to deal with worried adults, and their constant questions. Just because Dean wasn’t like everyone else didn’t mean he wasn’t okay by his own standards.

 

Not everyone had to be normal to be okay. Dean had done just fine the past fourteen years without his mother, without a house and a room of his own. He had his father to look after, evil things to fight, and revenge to seek. Whatever way anyone wanted to look at it, Dean had a purpose and that was more than most teenagers could say.

 

Sam for instance probably had no idea where his life was heading. Too caught up in his boyfriend, and school to really think of anything after, or what was really outside the walls of his picture perfect family. The closest thing to tragedy Sam had ever come to was the loss of an aunt he was too young to remember, or even really know. He had it good, had it easy. Loving family and boyfriend, nice, safe little world that accepted him for who he was. No idea of the evils that lurked just outside his front door and that Dean dealt with on a daily basis. So, Sam and his ideal life could just stay the hell away from Dean.

 

Dean kicked the bed frame angrily; disappointed in himself for letting Sam and this life get to him already, and more than a little confused as to why he gave a damn. He’d been there less than an hour and already he was feeling bitter over the naiveté and advantages Sam had. Something neither of them could control.

 

He knew he wasn’t being fair to the kid. He hadn’t done anything to Dean, but try and be nice. Dean’s social skills were seriously damaged if he couldn’t even get his sixteen year old cousin to like him, or at least keep the kid from hating him, because really, liking him was more than Dean could stand. Who was he to judge Sam? They were both doing the best with what they had.

 

Besides, keeping their relationship neutral would work out best for all of them in the end, anyway. If his dad called and heard about the strife between them, Dean would never hear the end of it and a little more of that trust his father had in him would slip away. If he wanted to rebuild that trust, or at least keep things from disintegrating between himself and his father, he was going to have to play nice, or at least civil, with his ‘family’.

 

Sighing, Dean left the room and headed down the stairs to the back porch, where his cousin had disappeared to only minutes before. He pushed through the screen door, catching sight of Sam at the end of the porch, legs dangling off the steps.

 

“Hey,” Dean started hesitantly. “The room’s great…”

 

Sam shrugged, cutting Dean off before he could stumble his way through some sort of an apology. “I get it. You’re not happy being sent here with a bunch of strangers. “

 

“Would you be?” Dean scoffed. He wasn’t sure what Sam wanted from him, what anyone wanted from him here. Dean wasn’t going to be what they wanted though and he wasn’t sure he could even pretend to be if he even knew what that was.

 

“Probably not,” Sam admitted, leaning back to get a better view of Dean. “But your dad thought it was best, and you’re kind of stuck here.”

 

“Don’t you think I get that?” Dean snapped. “Or do you really think that I would be standing out here talking to you voluntarily?” Kids like Sam didn’t even make a blip on Dean’s radar, if they didn’t share blood Dean wouldn’t have ever taken notice of Sam. And that’s what he was going to keep telling himself until this whole thing was over with.

 

Sam’s face hardened and he stood up from the back step, forcing his mouth to curve into something that should have resembled a smile but fell flat.

 

“I’m trying to make things easier on you, but you’re determined to keep that from happening, aren’t you?”

 

Irritated by the fact Sam couldn’t manage a real smile with him Dean crossed his arms over his chest defensively, and stared blankly at his newly acquired cousin. “I don’t want anything from you.”

 

So, Sam was right. Dean wasn’t happy being sent there, and yeah, he didn’t have a choice in the matter either, and he was stuck, but that didn’t mean Dean wanted a new best friend. He didn’t even want the cousin standing before him let alone some sixteen year old trying desperately to be a part of his older cousin’s life, out of pity or whatever else.

 

Sam shook his head, finally realizing that he’d made a mistake in thinking that this could go somewhere and brushed by Dean, hand on the screen door.

 

“You’re pretty smart for sixteen, but don’t,” Dean said as Sam glanced over his shoulder, wanting to set the record as straight as could be without the full on heart-to-heart Dean would rather gouge his eyes out than have, now. “Act like you know me.”

 

That was something Sam would never do.


End file.
